いにしへをしのぶる雨と誰か見ん
花もその世の友しなければ
花もその世の友しなければ
- Roma-ji
-
Inishie o shinoburu ame to tare ka min hana mo sono yo no tomo shi nakereba
- English Translation
-
Who would ever see
in this rain a longing for
the days long ago?
For the flowers too have now
no friends from those times of old.
- Meaning
- Who would see in this rain a longing for the past? For the blossoms, too, have no friends left from those days.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 102
Headnote: "Reply. She added that only the young people had gone, since one grown old shrinks from the bother of the wind, which sounded gracious to me"
This is Lady Hyōe's reply to Saigyō's poem. Who would ever see this rain as weeping for the past, she answers, since the blossoms too have no friends left from those days?
The headnote adds her remark that only the young people had gone to view the flowers, since an old woman shrinks from the bother of the wind, and records that Saigyō found this gracious. It is a reply that speaks, through the blossoms, of the loneliness of those who remember the past growing few. Its author Hyōe was a lady poet in the service of Jōsaimon'in.
First line, “inishie o”: the bygone past.
Second line, “shinoburu ame to”: as a rain of longing tears, taking up the conceit of rain as tears in the preceding poem.
Third line, “tare ka min”: ka is rhetorical, who would see it so, no one would, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “hana mo sono yo no”: for the blossoms too, of those days.
Fifth line, “tomo shi nakereba”: shi is emphatic, since there are no friends left, giving the reason in inverted order.
- Author
- Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe
- Source
- Sankashu
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